1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for driving an electrophoretic display apparatus, an electrophoretic display apparatus, an electronic apparatus, an electronic timepiece, and other related apparatus and methods.
2. Background Information
In recent years, a display panel having a memory capability that can hold an image even when the display panel is powered off has been developed and used in an electronic timepiece and other apparatus. Known examples of the display panel having a memory capability include an EPD (electrophoretic display) and a memory-capable liquid crystal apparatus.
An electrophoretic display apparatus has excellent advantages, such as a wide angular field of view, a high contrast ratio, high flexibility, and low power consumption because an electrophoretic display apparatus is a reflective display.
On the other hand, as described in JP-T-2005-530201 (Patent Literature 1), the operating life of an electrophoretic display apparatus may be shortened if the time average of an electric field applied between electrodes in the apparatus is not nearly zero. That is, to ensure long-time reliability of an electrophoretic display apparatus, it is necessary to achieve DC balance or to make the time average of the applied electric field nearly zero.